Police Chief Joe Leonardi rides a bicycle in his suit and tie

Last Monday, a Redondo Beach public works employee was hit in the head with a glass bottle by a man who rode away on a rusty, black bike. Redondo Police Chief Joe Leonardi, dressed in his suit and tie, was eating lunch at a local park when he sees a man matching the assailant’s description riding that bike.

Leonardi, 58, recognized the bike and gave chase after the man spotted him and rode away.

The suspect soon ditched the bike and a backpack and ducked into an alley.

“He’s 20 years younger than me. There’s no way I’m going to keep up with him,” Leonardi told the Daily Breeze. “He’s jumping fences and running. I know I’m not doing that.”

The chief, wearing a suit and tie, ran back to [suspect Morgan Wayne] Walker’s bicycle climbed aboard the bike and started pedaling after the man.

Another officer who responded to help Leonardi make the arrest couldn’t believe what he was seeing, the chief said.

“He said it was surreal,” Leonardi told the newspaper. “He looks up and sees me riding a bike. He can’t figure out why I am out getting exercise in a suit on a bicycle.”